Happy BLUES....
Huh? What?
What's a Coke can got to do with the Blues?
Or being happy?
It's all part of "context."
Tab Benoit was playing Cajun Blues at the Pour House Friday night.
He paused in his show to "mention" the team he was rooting for in the Super Bowl.
So, he's a happy man after the Sunday game and can still play the Blues.
See...it makes sense.
Just as he did when he appeared here about 6 months ago, Mr.
"Benwah" dazzled the crowd with his straight ahead music.
Very professional but also very personable.
He shared a lot of his Louisiana Bayou thoughts with the joyful crowd that danced and clapped its approval.
Not a frown in the place.
Wonder if he got home for the game?
I sure hope so.
Labels: Bayou, Cajun, Coke can, Super Bowl, Tab Benoit, The Saints no longer The "Aints"
A Bicycle Built For Two
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That's my Dad on the right. Waiting his turn.
His older brother Eddie has control of the bicycle.
Bike expert Dave Moulton sent me a catalog so I think that may be a 1918
Columbia Superb. Apparently they have to share it.
Wearing short pants means never getting cloth stuck in the chain and I seldom saw my Dad wear a tie. Guess he stopped early.
When I was about 9, my older brother and I received beautiful - yep, you guessed it -
Columbia bicycles for Christmas. They came with all the bells and whistles. Literally.
The 1948 models had a headlight (battery) and a red tail light (battery) built into the luggage rack and a horn button(battery) and lots and lots of chrome.
Within a few days we had modified them to look like all the other bikes our friends rode.
Both fenders were gone. We removed the horn. We no longer had the luggage rack/tail light. We kept the headlight.
Dad never said a word.
He never was able to control bikes. Or tie a tie.
Labels: 1913, 1918 Superb, Columbia bicycle, Eddie, luggage rack, necktie, neighborhood boys, red tail light, short pants
..and now for something new.
Many people have switched from using film to digital SLRs and Point-and-Shoot (P/S) cameras.
Eastman
Kodak is keenly aware of this major change from nearly a century of making - and selling - film.
The highly portable cameras of today are a far cry from the early days when photos were taken either on glass slides or tin types coated with light sensitive materials.
Today's cameras have shutters that click at 1/1600 of a second (or faster). Back then, exposure started when the photographer removed the lens cap and people had to stay rigid for anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes.
Standing behind the large bulky camera sitting atop a wooden tripod and draped with a black cloth, the photographer of the 1880s would not say
"Smile" instead, he or she would say
"Freeze. Stand still. Don't move a muscle." 
Now we say "cheese" and capture the moment in an instant.
There are digital cams than can detect if one of the subjects blinked.
Or you set a timer, step into the frame and it takes 3 quick shots. Yikes.
Years ago I decided to use a very compact P/S made by Canon and I have been able to have a camera with me almost all the time.
Others use larger camera with different lenses and attachments and they carry all this equipment in a heavy bag slung from their shoulder. They had more features on their cameras but I seldom left mine at home.
The needed
middle ground may have arrived with my new Canon S90.
Low light photography. Higher ISO without noise. Setting the camera by shutter speed or aperture. A larger light sensor than ever before. The ability to shoot RAW. Bracketing.
Yep, I can do all that now with a camera that weighs just 6 ounces.
The 8GB digital memory card says I can capture 2,000 images.
Eat your heart out
Mathew B. Brady.
(As usual, click the color photos to see more detail. The B&W shot is from the internet.)
Labels: 1880s photography, Canon S90, Civil War photographer, Mathew B. Brady, P/S cameras, shooting RAW
300th Blog Begets Blog....
I wanted something dramatic to announce my
300th blog posting.
Her's an image I found on the internet. (Even though many of my photos do appear here, I did NOT create this one.)
This is an example of
Creative License I hope and not something that gets me involved in a copyright lawsuit. Good grief.
This March will mark the
fourth year I have been doing a blog and it has been a wonderful and satisfying experience.
As some may recall, it all started with a suggestion from my friend Dan Conover a few years after I had retired from
The Post and Courier.
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He was into New Media and was trying to drag the paper into the 21st Century.
Well, he convinced me. Thanks again Dan!
Lately I have progressed to the point where I am selling items online (and in the paper's classified ads) and using my blog experience to illustrate what I have for sale.
That is so neat!
Here's my old Underwood that dates back to the 1920-1930s. I'm getting phone calls from collectors who like the
$75 price and the condition it is in.
So my 300th posting touts
another blog I've created.
Go ahead, take a look. We can talk.
We all have things we'll never use again and, as they say, these might be a treasure to someone else.
I also use
Craigslist but the newspaper seems to attract a "better" buying audience.
Newspaper readers give me a call, make an appointment and then really do come by.
Not a one has mentioned money orders, the use of pre-paid moving companies or the need for me to send any money to them.
Nigeria has not come up in conversation either
Just treasure hunters.
(You know the drill. As usual, click on "my" photos to see them larger. There's an amazing amount of details.)
Labels: 18" high hand-pump extinguisher, Craigslist, Dan Conover, Fyr Fyter, New Media, typewriter, Underwood #5
Coming Soon ....Nice New Views
Bowens Island Restaurant.
Stunning sunsets over the Stono River. Better than ever.
Wait a minute...how do you get up THAT high?
That's from the deck of the NEW dining room replacing the landmark that burned to the ground in 2007, changing a legend that started in 1947.
Owner
Robert Barber says it'll be a few more months before he opens the new place but last Tuesday he invited me to walk up and take a look. So I did.
Since the fire, when you go to
Bowens on Folly Road you eat in the heated, covered dock house on pilings over the water.
When the new place opens, you'll dine upstairs in a similar room that's twice as wide and twice as long.
Barber kept the Dock House look and it'll have the same wide pop-out windows so you're surrounded by great views.
I'm pretty sure that round window way up high is new.
(Click on the photos to enlarge and see more detail.)
Labels: Bowens Island restaurant, new building, oysters, Stono River
The Missing Cat
I heard the wind howling and the rain came pounding down hard.
The trees lost their nice looking orange Fall leaves.
Later the cat went to the door letting me know he wanted
"out." I am finally learning to understand
cat.
Can't speak it yet but he has trained me well.
Now I can't find him.
I can hear him so I know he's close.
Labels: Orange Fall leaves, orange striped cat, orange you glad I posted this
Officially I'm "a fine reviewer"
After you retire from a newspaper, you still want to "be a part" somehow. I was fortunate that the Movie & Book Editor let me continue doing book reviews.
A few years ago I reviewed a book by
David Baldacci and, during a Post and Courier Author's luncheon I attended, this New York Times best selling writer was one of the guest speakers.
During book signings I mentioned that I had reviewed one of his earlier books and he added his comment about my
critic prowess to the autograph he wrote in the front of the book I was buying.
Hey, it was the author's opinion!
Now, I have reviewed another of David's books. It appeared in the paper last week.
Maybe I'll go online and see if he's appearing at any nearby book signings.
No, that might be considered "stalking."
On the right is the frontspiece of the book David signed for me.
Well, he really hadn't read the review I had written so he was being gracious.
NYT best selling gracious.
(Click on my recent review to make it larger and easier to read.)
Labels: author's luncheon, Book Editor, book signings. celebrity stalking, David Baldacci, New York Times best seller, NYT
Blues Picker & Singer Extraordinaire
Rory Block, a multiple W.C. Handy Blues Music award winner, came to play some blues at the Pour House a week and a half ago.
I support live music and want every act to receive a great
Charleston Welcome. An early show on a Wednesday night at the
PoHo is often a crowd challenge.
Rory - blues, roots singer and guitarist - acknowledged it was a last minute change in her schedule and she expected a less than normal size audience.
This pro had seats placed right down front and she conducted a terrific "guitar clinic." She switched back and forth among four guitars and featured the sounds - and her memories - of Son House and Mississippi John Hurt. Wow.
She played in the Netherlands and Belgium earlier this year and was on her way the next day to Charlotte and Atlanta, so Charleston was fortunate to receive an outstanding evening of Mississippi Delta blues.
A friend who knows how much I enjoy music and concerts touted an
"app" he has on his iPhone.
Holding up a flickering lighter in tribute to the band has been updated.
I don't own an iPhone but I think Rory would have liked seeing it glowing in the dark as she played.
Hope she comes back again.
(Click on the music shot for more detail.)
Labels: App, Delta Blues, iphone, Mississippi John Hurt, PoHo, Rory Block, Son House
Look A Little Closer....
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There was a parking barricade at the entrance to the lot so I found a spot away from the afternoon
AUTO & BIKE SHOW in Hanahan.
Normally, I'm not really into car shows.
Best car I ever owned - a 1959 Triumph TR3 - was called an
antique by my daughter when she saw one a few years ago at a car show.
Ouch.
However, this was a sleek looking red motorcycle and I almost passed by ... until I looked closer.
Oh my!
Semper Fi.
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We Marines are not usually so understated. Nice.
Labels: Hanahan Bike and Auto Show, red motorcycle, understated Marines
Something's not right here...
Atlanta used to host a
Midtown Music Festival in the Spring.
It was only a 5 hour drive so I attended for several years.
Never did check into this hotel though.
Something about it bothered me.
I have stayed in the 70-story Westin Peachtree Plaza downtown. I rode the elevator up to the top for the view - and drinks - but my room was only around 50 floors up.
Looks like I'll be heading over to Atlanta again this spring but not for the Midtown Festival.
Apparently it was losing money and was canceled a few years ago.
I'll be driving there for a
Craig Ferguson stand-up concert.
He is the comedy star of Late, Late night television and is about to tape (er, um, sorry, of course the show is LIVE) perform his 1,000th show.
When his show is a rerun (LIVE - Repeated?) during holiday weeks, he goes on the road and I'll be able to see him perform LIVE on stage.
Here is the funniest carpet picture I've ever taken in an upscale hotel.
Surprise! There was no iron in the closet.
Labels: Atlanta Hilton, Bomb Squad, carpet repair, Craig Ferguson, Late, Late Night TV, Midtown Music Festival, Westin Peachtree Plaza
Huh? What?
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